Would you worry if your child couldn't do the monkey bars?

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Would you worry about your 7yo's fitness levels if they couldn't do the monkey bars in a playground? How would you go about building up their fitness to be able to do them? Child wants to.

My twins can, but they're big into climbing, have had a gymnastics bar at home and have good upper body strength. Twin 1 is all round athletic, whereas Twin 2 is floppier and definitely not built for running.
It's just one kind of strength/fitness. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I've never been able to do them and I was very light as a child. There is a knack to it I think - I was a clumsy child with no rhythm.

I could never do them when I was younger, ever! Neither could my son. My son is built like a brick shit house now, he could bench press half the family in one go no problem, I jest but he really is strong, like, proper strong honestly, I used to bizarrely totally worry about that too! Your post took me back, I really did worry, I kept seeing all these gangly boys and girls swinging around on them and wondering why my son couldn’t even dangle from them and now he’s like a big tank! 😂 it’s made me laugh now thinking back to genuinely worrying that he couldn’t do the monkey bars, I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at me looking back in hindsight. Hope that helped a wee bit. Ps, we used to go to the swing park when it was dark and try and practice and I used to hold him up and try and take some of his weight… and he still could never do it. He can do the pull up bar no problem now, he’s 20. Still don’t know what was the reason, I remeber him wanting to be able to do it so badly and me trying to help him and even googling it at the time, och, I love that boy, I really do. X

Well I can’t do them so no wouldn’t be worried 😂

It’s harder for women than men due how we are built, I’ve never been able to do them and one of my DD’s couldn’t, the other can now but only as an adult following military training!

I remember one of my kids being terribly upset when she couldn't do them. She would persevere and try and try again and get terribly upset. Low point was when I had a call from my sister with some 'bad news', which was that her daughter, 6 months younger, had cracked it!
DD got it eventually. She's pretty fit and sporty, but she's also incredibly determined and competitive.
(Cousin incidentally was very fit, but pretty solidly built, I think it's about technique and can be done by any body shape.)
I don't think I'd worry about fitness on that basis. Hope your DS is happy when he does crack it!

I’ve never been able to do them in my life, not even as a child. See also forward rolls, handstands, basically anything that didn’t involve sitting on my arse.

Some people just aren’t athletic at all, no matter their age.

Any able bodied kid (or adult for that matter) can do them they just need to keep practicing to build up the strength. No one can do them straight away.

My ds7 can’t do them, I’ve never thought anything of it. It is to do with core / upper body strength surely, not fitness.

Children who practice them a lot in the park everyday or have a set at home presumably will get it a lot quicker.

I think everyone is born with different bodies, suited to different sports. Just because you can't do the monkey bars does not necessarily mean you need to work on your fitness. It might just mean that a different type of sport or exercise is more suitable for your body type. Same with children.